James Buck | Photography | Egypt revolution and arrest, 2006-2008

Before the Arab Spring of 2011, before the revolution that overthrew Mubrak, a series of protests washed over central Egypt as rising food prices and labor disputes spurred people to action. Long lines for bread became increasingly agitated and in the town of Mahalla, home to the Middle East’s largest textile mill, tens of thousands took to the streets in a protest that laid a foundation – the April 6 Movement – for what was to come. I documented both the conditions leading up to the protest, the poverty as well as the daily life, the struggles in agriculture and the low-paying jobs working in Cairo and elsewhere, and eventually, the April protests, and the search for those who went missing in the mass arrests. I too was swept up in the arrests in Mahalla in 2008 and used Twitter to help get myself and my translator free.

MAHALLA, EGYPT – APRIL 8, 2008: Tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets as a planned strike at Misr Spinning and Weaving, Egypt’s largest textile mill, was aborted due to police clampdown. The city was under military occupation for days and hundreds were arrested, including the photographer. (James Buck / PBS)

MAHALLA, EGYPT – APRIL 8, 2008: Tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets as a planned strike at Misr Spinning and Weaving, Egypt’s largest textile mill, was aborted due to police clampdown. The city was under military occupation for days and hundreds were arrested, including the photographer. (James Buck / PBS)

MAHALLA, EGYPT – APRIL 7, 2008: Women cry and scream, begging for the return of hundreds of sons and fathers snatched from the streets by state security forces in attempt to quash protests. Tens of thousands of protestors took to the street to protest rising food prices and government attempts to privatize state-owned factories. The group became known as the April 6 Movement and played a major role in Egypt’s 2012 revolution. (James Buck / PBS)

MAHALLA, EGYPT – APRIL 7, 2008: People wait in line for hours to buy government-subsidized bread as rising food prices squeeze the working classes. Tens of thousands of protestors took to the street to protest rising food prices and government attempts to privatize state-owned factories. The group became known as the April 6 Movement and played a major role in Egypt’s 2012 revolution. (James Buck / PBS)

CAIRO, EGYPT – JUNE, 2006: Protestors burn an Israeli flag outside the Press Syndicate in a protest against the Israeli military action in teh south of Lebanon. (James Buck / PBS)

NILE DELTA, EGYPT – 2007: An Imam practices Koranic readings with students in a small village. Rising concerns about the growth in Muslim Brotherhood activity have fueled Western fears about terrorism, which some Egyptians say provides an legitimazation for Mubarak’s quarter-century of “Emergency Law.” (James Buck / PBS)

CAIRO, EGYPT – JUNE 2006: A felucca captain raises his sails at sunset. The low-paying jobs are available just outside the Nile Hilton, one of the most expensive places in the city. The rising cost of food and economic disparities have fueled the ongoing unrest. (James Buck / PBS)

CAIRO, EGYPT – AUG 22, 2007: A man drinks and washes his face in an irrigation ditch in an impoverished illegally-built slum on the outskirts of Cairo. (James Buck / PBS)

CAIRO, EGYPT – JUNE 2006: An elderly man sits on the street in old Cairo outside the walls of Al-Azhar, the country’s biggest Islamic institution. Rising concerns about the growth in Muslim Brotherhood activity have fueled Western fears about terrorism, which some Egyptians say provides an legitimazation for Mubarak’s quarter-century of “Emergency Law.”

CAIRO, EGYPT – JUNE 2006: A young man sits on the street in old Cairo outside the walls of Al-Azhar, the country’s biggest Islamic institution. Rising concerns about the growth in Muslim Brotherhood activity have fueled Western fears about terrorism, which some Egyptians say provides an legitimazation for Mubarak’s quarter-century of “Emergency Law.”

NILE DELTA, EGYPT – JUNE 2006: A poor young girl eats a bag of koshary, an inexpensive rice dish, in the Nile Delta.

CAIRO, EGYPT – JUNE 2006: Poor families live in slums without plumbing in old Cairo. Many children are seen working at a young age.

CAIRO, EGYPT – JUNE 2006: Poor families live in slums without plumbing in old Cairo. Many children are seen working at a young age.

NILE DELTA, EGYPT – JUNE 2006: A young man labors on a dusty farm trying to raise crops near the river for food.